Hi all ! I was just wondering how you all do game models. I personally think it's easier to make the LP model first then move to the HP, so then you already have your basic mesh set up and there really isn't as much work needed for your HP model. Although, I know quite a few people who do it the opposite. I just wanted to get your opinions on this subject, so feel free to post! =)

i had a pleasure to do a game model a few times and i would say that i'm one of those few people who do it both ways. i basicly do a characters and organic stuff so i just jum to zbrush and make a quick sketch acording to concepts given or created and then a quick retopolog, uvw fixing, and bla bla bla . and then go back to zbrush for a long detailing, texturing, map creating and bla bla bla. . but the same is when i do a model for animation.

Creating A low poly model first is best so that you can get your characters (assuming we're talking about characters) proportions to your desired state. You can then rig this character to see how it looks when animated.

Once you have this base, or guide mesh, you can go anywhere from here.

The danger of starting in high poly straight away is that it's harder to refine any mistakes further along the pipeline.

As for a more general rule. If you are planning on sculpting the model, a low poly mesh with a solid (quads) topology would be best. Sculpt the model, then you can optimize the base mesh from your sculpt, and be as mean and dirty with polys as you wish, to a certain extent.

Well, I don't do many game models but by starting with a low poly without the intention of retopo later, you are limited your freedom to refine the shape and form when sculpting. Not to mention your can get a much better fitting and optimized silhouette working ontop of the final high poly model than you could from any reference image.

I suppose rigging and weighting earlier on can be used as a counter argument to this method, but working this way could also backfire if the mesh changes too much when sculpting. Better to leave the final weighting till after the sculpt and topology is completely done, but riggers can always get started with a base model with the same proportions.

I usually try to make the low poly first as close to the finished state as possible, then I just sculpt out the really fine details and bake the maps in Zbrush or Mudbox.

I think that it is the easiest way and it often saves me a lot of time.

Yeah, I definitely disagree with that, at least regarding organic stuff. Pushing, pulling, cutting, and merging verts is never going to be as intuitive as sculpting is for form searching. If all you use Zbrush or Mudbox for is surface detail it's going to show.